tool
/tul/ noun, verb
Forms tools tooling tooled
- noun Any physical device meant to ease or do a task. “Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.”
- noun Any piece of equipment used in a profession, such as a craftsman's. “the tools of the trade”
- noun Anything that aids someone to perform an operation; an instrument; a means. “Idleness is a tool of the devil.”
- noun (computing) A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations. “The software engineer had been developing lots of EDA tools.”
- noun A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group, a pawn. “She was a tool of the pharmaceutical lobby.”
- noun (baseball) A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.). “a five-tool player”
- noun (vulgar, informal) A penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation.
- noun (by extension, vulgar, slang, derogatory) An obnoxious or uptight person. “He won't sell us tickets because it's 3:01, and they went off sale at 3. That guy's such a tool.”
- verb (transitive) To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.
- verb (transitive) To equip with tools.
- verb (intransitive) To work very hard.
- verb (transitive, slang) To put down another person (possibly in a subtle, hidden way), and in that way to use him or her to meet a goal. “Dude, he's not your friend. He's just tooling you.”
- verb (transitive, volleyball) To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds.
- verb (transitive, UK, slang, dated) To drive (a coach or other vehicle).
- verb (transitive, UK, slang, dated) To carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.
- verb (intransitive, slang) To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.
Synonyms
anaconda baloney pony bald-headed hermit banana bird birdie bobby boonga cack choad choda chode chopper cigar cock corey crank cucumber custard launcher D instrument creature puppet prick dick shaft pecker peter putz joyride
Etymology
From Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument”, literally “that with which one prepares something”), perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą (“that which is used in preparation, tool”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to tie to, secure”), equivalent to taw (“to prepare”) + -le (agent suffix). Cognate with Scots tuil (“tool, implement, instrument, device”), Icelandic tól (“tool”), Faroese tól (“tool, instrument”). Related to Old English tāwian (“to make, prepare, or cultivate”); see taw, and tow ("fibres used for spinning").
Webster’s 1913
- noun An instrument such as a hammer, saw, plane, file, and the like, used in the manual arts, to facilitate mechanical operations; any instrument used by a craftsman or laborer at his work; an implement; as, the tools of a joiner, smith, shoe-maker, etc.; also, a cutter, chisel, or other part of an instrument or machine that dresses work.
- noun A machine for cutting or shaping materials; --also called machine tool.
- verb To shape, form, or finish with a tool. "Elaborately tooled." Ld.
- verb To drive, as a coach. [Slang,Eng.]
Etymology [OE. tol,tool. AS. tl; akin to Icel. tl, Goth. taijan to do, to make, taui deed, work, and perhaps to E. taw to dress leather. sq. root64.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tool”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details